Genre: Comedy, friendship, slice of life

Prompt: -

Synopsis: After several different incidents involving my laptop, I'm beginning to think the electronic is conspiring against me. Was it trying to make my life more difficult? Was it really all just a coincidence? My friends aren't very comforting, especially since they don't believe me. At least they don't until the damn thing starts speaking to us!

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"You're crazy~" Neo was lying across my bed, propping himself up on his elbows. His blue eyes were following me as I paced back and forth across my bedroom, hand on my chin.

"I'm not crazy," I scoffed, sending a mild glare towards my best friend. "It's a fucking conspiracy, I'm telling you!"

"Do you even hear yourself?" Marcus was sitting next to Neo, legs crossed Indian style with a bag of pink and blue cotton candy in his lap. He pinched off a piece of the blue sugar and popped it into his mouth. "Computers can not conspire against humans."

"Bullshit! Wasn't there a prophecy once about robots taking over all of humanity?"

"You're thinking of I, Robot," stated Neo, an amused smirk on his face.

"We're not even talking about robots! We're talking about a laptop," scowled Marcus, shaking his head.

"It still counts damn it!" I snapped, annoyed that the two males refused to believe me.

"No, it doesn't!"

"Yes, it does!"

"Does not!"

"Does so!"

"Not!"

"So!"

"Enough!"

The three of us turned our attention to the doorway of my bedroom where the yell had come from. Sam was glaring at us, eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"What's going on in here?" wondered Yang from beside his boyfriend, a gentle smile on his face.

Marcus and I exchanged glances, neither of us wanting to be scolded by the pair.

Neo chuckled, amused by our antics which some might consider childish but I do not. "Jay is convinced that her laptop is conspiring against her."

"Are all public schoolers that dimwitted?" Sam commented, leaning against the door with his arms folded over his large chest.

I scowled, glaring at the younger male. "Fuck off with your private academy bullshit."

"Dear," Yang called out, his tone calm but with a slight undertone of warning; he never did like it when I used such language. "Explain to me why you think such a thing."

"Gladly! It all started about two years ago..."

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Incident #1 – The New Laptop

It was my 15th birthday and I had been given the gift of a brand new laptop. I was quite happy, naturally, since I had been wanting one for a long time.

Not even a week after I received it, however, I began to experience trouble with it. Now, being the stubborn person I am, I simply shrugged it off with the thought, 'It will eventually go away,' a lot like any medical problem I may have.

Anyway, as time passed, the problems with the computer got worse until, finally, the stupid piece of shit stopped working and would not even turn on. So I took said object to my local electronics store where the geeks could handle it and find out what the problem was. Of course, I had the thought in my mind that it may be a virus, but for some reason, I doubted that it was the cause.

After weeks of waiting, I finally got my computer back. Apparently, the hard drive had gone bad – or some stupid shit such as that. Despite the fact that all of my precious shit was gone from said object, my computer was back and working, and I was satisfied.

Incident #2 – Internet Problems

I had gotten a wireless laptop internet card. It was good and it worked though it was quite slow. I didn't really mind it – as long as it was the internet, I was fine. However, said internet liked to cut off randomly and would not come back unless I completely shut down the computer and restarted it – and this didn't always solve the problem.

Now, it was extremely annoying having to close down everything that I was working on to restart it, get it working just for it to stop again 5 minutes later.

Finally, after many varying priced bills and annoying phone calls, I switched to a different internet provider. It was faster, more reliable, and happened to not cut off every time I took a breath.

I was happy once more.

Incident #3 – More Problems

It's almost like it had a mind of its own. One minute the CD/DVD drive is working, the next it's not. It freezes constantly, is slow as shit and likes to piss me off by not working!

Now, this often makes me feel like slamming my head against a brick wall, but I refrain like the well mannered little shit I am and simply grind my teeth, trying to keep my bad-tempered adolescence under wraps.

Incident #4 – The Power Cord

Now, I knew from the very beginning that the laptop company was a piece of shit, especially after all of the problems that I've had since day one, but I never expected the power cord to go berserk as well. It started out where the cord only worked when I played with it and moved it to a certain angle. No big deal.

Then it started to get harder to get it to work, no matter what position I held it in. The problem, I guessed, was a short in the wiring just at the base that connected to the computer, not the plug. Anyway, it was fine, as long as it worked.

Until one day, when I moved it in an attempt to get it to work. I never would have expected what happened next.

The power cord shocked me and burned the palm of my hand, leaving a black mark in its wake. I had cursed in pain, unplugging the object and quickly throwing it on the ground. It hit my cat, who was sitting in front of me – don't worry, she was fine! From there, it sparked and attempted to catch on fire. I quickly unplugged it before that could happen.

Despite the pain in my hand and the annoyance I felt towards the cord, the company refused to do anything. Sure, they put the case on high priority, but they never did shit about it. Now the evidence is gone and there's no proof to show that the cord was dangerous in any way.

Incident #5 – Sharing Is Not Caring

It was annoying having to share one cord between two laptops, one belonging to a college student while the other belonged to a person who had no life. Can you guess which one I was?

It didn't help that the computer died within less than ten minutes of no power when it's supposed to last around six hours. Only about five minutes after the other person took the cord, my computer decided it didn't want to exist anymore. And so, I was left to sit in my room with nothing to do.

It was agonizing.

In the end, I did manage to get another power cord that worked on any computer; it had different attachments according to different brands. Everything was fine and dandy once again.

Incident #6 – Internet Cable

Cruel fate?

Proof that life is indeed a bitch, just like its counterpart, karma?

A sick joke, played out to someone's vain amusement?

Did they know that I had no life and wanted to see just what would happen should they take away the one thing my life pretty much surrounds?

Apparently, someone was seriously enjoying my misery.

One of the small wires inside of the ethernet cable somehow managed to snap; seriously, what are the chances of that? Now, when I fiddled with it, I managed to make the wires touch again and the internet worked... until I moved an inch and it'd cut off again. Much like the power cord incident, if I messed with it, I could get it to work. This time, though, no matter what I did, I just couldn't get it to work. Instead, I said 'screw it' and went to bed.

Thankfully I managed to get a new ethernet cord.... the problem this time? It was too short and I honestly did NOT feel like sitting in the closet just to use the damn computer. So, I went back and got the only longer one they had, which happened to be a used one.

It worked and I now had internet without a problem, but I couldn't help but wonder – how long will it last?

What disaster will happen next?

Two very good questions indeed.

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"Do you see? Do you see what I mean? What're the chances of that?!" I fell down onto the bed between Marcus and Neo, lying on my back and letting out an exasperated sigh.

"Well, when you put it that way... it does kind of sound like a conspiracy against you. Almost like the computer is recruiting the other things to piss you off," Marcus commented, popping another piece of cotton candy into his mouth while absent-mindedly staring up at the ceiling.

"And it's working!"

Yang sighed deeply, his hand resting on his forehead as he settled down in my desk chair. He was clearly regretting his choice to accompany his boyfriend to my house today. "It's probably just a coincidence."

"Coincidence? Come on, Yang!" I sat up so quickly that my world spun for a moment. "How can all of that just be a coincidence?!"

"Maybe it's you. You have been known to destroy things fairly easily, with that temper of yours," Sam commented, sending me a deadpan look.

I glared at him, eyes narrowing. "Who the hell let you in my house?"

He scoffed, dark eyes narrowing into a glare that rivaled my own. "You don't honestly expect us to believe such a ridiculous tale, do you? Sorry, but private schoolers are not as stupid as you public schoolers seem believe."

"Why you – !" Neo grabbed onto me before I could even get up, his arms wrapped securely around my neck and his legs resting over my own so that I couldn't move. He was one of the very few people who could control my temper, one that Sam seemed to exist just to provoke.

"We need to think of this rationally," Yang sent me a warning look. He didn't need to use words, the darkness in his eyes said it all - touch my boyfriend and I'll gut you like a fish. 

I clicked my tongue in annoyance, relaxing in Neo's hold. He kept his grip tight just in case, resting his chin on my shoulder.

"Is this going to turn out like that transformers movie?" Marcus suddenly asked.

"Now that is stupid," I muttered.

"Oh come on! You talk about a computer conspiracy only targeting yourself and I'm the stupid one?" Marcus scoffed, stuffing more of the sugary treat into his mouth with a pout.

I turned my glare on him. "Stuff it, Red."

"My hair is not red! It's orange!"

"It's red."

"Oran -"

"Knock it off," Yang commanded, causing the pair of us to quiet down immediately. It didn't stop the glares from being exchanged, though. "It's most likely just a string of bad luck. It'll pass."

"Did you break any mirrors recently~?" Neo teased, poking my arm. I slapped his hand away when he tried to do it a second time and he chuckled.

Sam was reaching his breaking point, pinching the bridge of his nose. "This is ridiculous and is getting us nowhere."

"Where's there to get? Jay's nuts!"

"Keep talkin' red and you'll find out just how nuts I am."

He stuck his tongue out at me in a taunting manner and I made a mental note to throw his sweets in the toilet.

"Do you guys hear that?" Neo pulled himself away from me, sliding off the bed and beginning to search the room. 

We all went silent, hearing a static sound that suddenly filled the room. 

The search led him to the closed laptop on the desk behind Yang. 

"Is it on?" questioned Neo, glancing back at me.

"No," I responded cautiously, moving to stand behind him – if something went down, he'd take the brunt of the damage and not me.

Yang turned around in the chair and opened up the laptop. He jumped in surprise after being zapped by it, standing up and taking a few steps back. 

The screen blinked several times before settling to white. A large bowler hat appeared on the screen followed by a distorted voice. "We are here for the simple purpose of taking over humanity. We will destroy you all."

After a solid minute of near deafening silence, Marcus screamed like a little girl and ran from the bedroom, clutching his cotton candy and yelling something about Decepticons.

"Well, that was one hell of a delayed reaction," I muttered, staring at the door.

"Should... we be worried?" Neo cocked his head to the side, his finger resting on his chin as he stared at the computer with a thoughtful look.

"Yang?" Sam questioned, turning toward his boyfriend.

Without a word, Yang stood up, turning around and leaving the room. He slammed both the bedroom door and the front door. The three of us exchanged glances before scrambling to follow after him, none of us wanting to be left alone with the possibly possessed electronic.

━━━━━━༻Elsewhere༺━━━━━━

The large man let out a roar of laughter as he lay in front of his computer, beady eyes glinting in the low light. His name was Bob and he was a notorious hacker that's most known for trying to convince people that their electronics were coming to life. In his defense, he truly believed that would one day happen and he was just trying to prepare people.

His roommate, Adam, glanced at him over the college textbook he was reading. "Did you cause all that stuff to happen to her computer?"

"I wish!" he chortled in response. "Sadly, such feats are beyond my capabilities -"

"Because they require actually leaving this room?"

Bob ignored the comment. "She was the perfect target because her laptop was clearly beginning to revolt already! She should be thanking me! I am her savior!"

Adam scoffed. "You didn't save anyone. All you did was scare a bunch of high school kids. You're almost 40, man, that's not a good look."

He glared at the younger male over his shoulder. "One day you'll realize I'm right and I won't help you survive the A.I-pocalypse!"

"Sure, whatever."

"Hmph. No one understands me, but they will... one day."